Hall sworn in as new Hart board member

After months of being in limbo, a vacant board seat in the Santa Clarita Valley’s largest school district was officially filled Wednesday night when Placerita Canyon resident Rob Hall took the oath of office.

Hall was originally appointed to serve on the William S. Hart Union High School District board for a four-year term on Oct. 16, ending months of uncertainty surrounding the seat that followed the resignation of Chris Fall, who left the board in August, citing a potential conflict of interest.

Fall himself was appointed to the board June 5 to serve out the board term of Paul Strickland, who resigned effective May 1.

But Fall’s resignation came after he had already been deemed elected to another term on the board by the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s office, meaning he also had to decide whether to give up his claim to another term.

Fall eventually did so in September, re-opening the appointment process since at that point it was too late for the Hart district to hold a board election in November 2013.

Eleven applied for the open board seat and, after hours of candidate interviews, Hall was eventually selected as the top candidate.

Hall, who has served as board president for the Placerita Canyon Property Owners Association, also works in recruitment and human resources at Advanced Bionics in Valencia.

“The people that I recruit aren’t prepared and it’s sad,” he said in October when describing his decision to run for the board. “And we have to find a way to break some of these habits of what I see coming into Advanced Bionics.”

Hall was officially sworn into office Wednesday night, as were current board members Joe Messina and Bob Jensen, meaning the Hart district board will have a full five members for the first time since Fall’s resignation in August. Both Jensen and Messina will be entering their second terms on the board.Lmoney@signalscv.com661-287-5525On Twitter @LukeMMonbety